Fly,
by Sunny-f16
Summary: She had always dreamed that one day she would fly. She just never thought her dream meant she'd fly with Sirius Black with her feet planted firmly on the ground.
1. Prologue: To Fly

**Prologue: To Fly**

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_"'Hope' is the thing with feathers."_

-Emily Dickinson from '_The Poems of Emily Dickinson'_

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There was a harsh ticking in Slughorn's office that night, just as unforgiving and annoying as any clock could be in a silent room. A year later, Lyra would just have to close her eyes to remember its unrelenting sound, like a nagging, beastly thing mocking her over and over.

Needless to say, the clock was doing its job just nicely, informing her, even if she wasn't watching it, that time was slowly passing by, creeping on like it didn't have a care in the world what you did between each irritable tick it provided. At the time, Lyra had only been bothered by the noise as she sat silently, waiting for Slughorn to begin their discussion. A year later, Lyra only saw the slow passing of time as an inner demon, following her around, reminding her that her days at Hogwarts wouldn't last forever.

"Have you thought of what you're going to do after graduation, Miss Ludlow?" Slughorn had asked her her fifth year. "Any plans once you're out of Hogwarts?"

Sitting across from the Potion's Master, Lyra had shrugged, looking around the room wishing she could silence the clock on the wall.

A year ago, she hadn't been concerned. Graduation was still so far away to worry about professions that Lyra never thought to stop and think. She now wished that she had been smarter, sensible enough to care.

Slughorn had ruffled through a folder with Lyra's name on it. She could see old tests and assignments that she had completed sticking out around the corners. "Now, I know you've just recently received an Outstanding on my last test," He had said, pulling notes from the folder. "Yes, yes, here it is! Full marks on your Invigoration Draught yesterday and here… you've got an Exceeds Expectations on your essay… Perhaps you'd like to try your hand at Healing, Miss Ludlow?"

And again, Lyra had shrugged the idea off, this time shaking her head. She never liked the idea of healing even now, when she was becoming desperate to find something, anything to look forward to after Hogwarts.

"No? Well… Let's see…" Slughorn pulled a new page from the folder and studied it for a while. "You're Arithmancy scores aren't at all too bad… Perhaps Gringotts? You'd have to work fairly hard at raising your scores, though they are all ready something to be proud of, but those goblins, they're hard to impress, you know. Or you can aim to become an Auror! You're marks in Defense Against the Dark Arts are very good. You remember Steven Deverill? He graduated last year. Only student strait out of Hogwarts to be taken on by the Aurors in the past two years. Quite the achievement!" He had nodded to something over her head, commenting on Deverill's picture behind her but Lyra never looked, she had already begun tuning her Professor out, hardly interested in Gringotts or Auror's to pay much mind. "Do any of those ideas seem interesting to you?" He had asked.

She remembered the way her Professor had studied her after she shook her head again, and the memory followed her every time graduation came to mind. _You have no idea,_ it mocked her. _You're lost. You have no plan._

"Surely, there's something you've always seen yourself doing, Miss Ludlow." Slughorn had asked. "Had a dream, perhaps, that you've had since you were very little?"

She had looked at Slughorn then, thinking that she shouldn't say anything but at the same time wanting the whole world to know. Lyra chewed her lip thinking that yes, she did in fact have a dream, and she wanted it more than anything.

And she'd do anything to get it.

Pulling herself back to the present time, Lyra cast a hard gaze at the grandfather clock in the quiet Slytherin common room. The second hand was moving in time with the silver pendulum and the same harsh ticking from Slughorn's office last year was echoing around her. Lyra glared at it, her brown eyes trying desperately to melt its gears.

Looking back, she now thought, maybe she always knew what she wanted to do. She did know, in fact, always. It just wasn't what others would have chosen for her and so she had tried ignoring the burning, itching desire to follow her heart. It was silly and a little bit mental… a lot a bit mental she should say but who was to say that a girl couldn't dream? Even if it was impossible?

It was ridiculous, a simple, albeit crazy dream that she came up with. It was a dead end. A fruitless hope. It'd get her nowhere in the end.

But who ever said it was the end you should strive for?

Watching the clock and listening to its ticking, Lyra could almost hear her voice, one year ago as she told her Head of House her dream. And despite his utter look of disapproval, the memory brought a smile to Lyra's fair face.

"I want to fly," She had said, loving how it tasted on her tongue. "I just want to fly…"

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Author's Note: Oh my... A new story? Please review!


	2. Home is Where Your Friends Are

**1. **

**Home is Where Your Friends Are**

"_A secret spoken finds wings."_

Robert Jordan

_The Path of Daggers_

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Christmas break that year came too quickly, in Lyra's opinion, and she found it very unsettling how yesterday it had seemed she had just boarded the train to Hogwarts and now she was stuck back home, waiting tables at the town's local diner like she did during every winter and summer break. Thinking back, Lyra could hardly remember the welcoming feast at the beginning of the school year. It was a blur at most, like her classes and the days that lead up to now. At the rate the year was going, Lyra figured, she'd finish the last year and a half of Hogwarts and she'd graduate before she could fully register a blink of her eye.

And she'd graduate without a plan.

But, like she figured a few months before break, she rather liked not ever having a plan. It wasn't that she thought it was a whole lot more exciting, living, as they say 'in the moment' but really, Lyra enjoyed the thought that because she was without a plan, she had a whole lot more opportunities a head of her. It wasn't like she couldn't do anything. As the matter of fact, there was a whole lot that Lyra _could_ do. Slughorn had even suggested last year a good handful of things she could do after Hogwarts. The only problem: She didn't want to do any of them.

She had hated every suggestion he made for her and quite honestly couldn't see herself doing any of them. They just didn't fit or stir anything inside her, erupt a sort of passion in her heart of becoming a Healer or Auror.

The only thing Lyra could see herself doing was flying.

Flying in the sky and watching the world below her slowly turn. Feeling the wind rush past her and touch her skin as she left everything in her life behind her. There was no absolute way she wanted to fly. Lyra could be on a broom or be a bird for all she cared, she just wanted that distinct feeling of being free. Of having nothing holding her down and nothing tying her to the ground.

And she was determined that one day she would fly, one way or another, she was going to fly.

"Earth to Lyra," A voice whispered directly in her ear and Lyra jumped as a large hand flashed in front of her eyes. She looked up to see the Assistant Manager and her friend Patrick Petrel smiling down at her. "Lost in the clouds again are we, Ly?"

Lyra scowled at him, seeing that the tables at Skimmer's Diner weren't as empty that morning from when she had decided to hide around the corner to the kitchen to daydream. "S'not as bad as you, always hiding under the sinks to read your letters, is it, Pat?" she said smiling as sweetly as she could and Patrick blushed.

"I do not hide under the sinks." He mumbled, stuffing a finger in his pocket, obviously feeling to make sure his new letter was there.

"It's probably a better idea than hovering over the utensils, anyway." Lyra told him. "Or by the ovens. Or, you know, in front of the bathroom door where no one can get around you to use the toilet."

Patrick, in a very mature manner, stuck his tongue out at her. "At least I do that on my breaks and not, you know, while I'm on the clock with costumers waiting for their drinks." He said suggestively.

He then handed her a tray of glasses she hadn't noticed him carrying and Lyra blinked down at them. Looking back at Patrick he nodded his head to the new costumers at table three and winked. "Back to work, _peasant_." He said and rolling her eyes, Lyra walked over to table three.

Patrick -always-entertaining—Petrel had become her friend when she first landed this job two years ago. He was a muggle and knew nothing about the school she went to in September, and likewise knew nothing about her being a witch or of her wand she had safely tucked away in her purse now that was locked up in her locker. Since her first day, she and Patrick had bonded and a strong friendship was born between them and now Lyra considered him her closest friend.

He had been seventeen then, when they first met, but no less shorter than he was now and Lyra was proud to say that she did manage to stretch an inch or so over the years to over come a small percentage of his towering six foot and some odd inches. With his height and dark curly hair and gray eyes, it was always entertaining to watch the girls that came into the diner swoon over his toothy smile and though she loved Patrick to death, she hated the fact that he knew his looks were better than a fair amount of the other guys that came in. He liked to flirt but nothing more came from his smiles or compliments, leaving those hopeful girls with slightly broken hearts. They always left looking rejected when Patrick didn't share his number or address or his hours but Lyra knew the real reason for him declining the offers to 'go out' sometime with them.

Walking back to Patrick after taking care of the guest, Lyra found him, once again, absent-mindedly fingering his pocket with the letter in it. Smiling despite herself, Lyra caught his eye. "Anxious to read what Steven wrote?" she asked and his eyes suddenly lit up with her question, just as she knew they would. He always lit up at the mention of Steven.

"He said he was going to try and take off school for Christmas Break," Patrick explained. "Steven was going to talk to his Professors about it. I'm hoping his letter has good news."

Lyra's eyebrows furrowed over her eyes in confusion. "He has to ask his Professors for Christmas Break?" she asked.

"Well, his University is really far from home," Patrick shrugged, looking crestfallen simply by the thought of Steven being so far away. "And his classes are very tight knit. They even have him taking summer courses too just so he can graduate next year." He smiled. "If he does get the okay from his Professors, maybe you can meet him. How do you think your father would feel about you coming with us Christmas Eve to his family's Christmas party?"

Lyra snorted. "He might get an anxiety attack just by the thought, I'm guessing." She said thinking about her father's overly protective ways. Ever since her mother left when Lyra was two, he tried his best to keep Lyra as close to him as possible. He even tried talking her out of going to Hogwarts when she got her letter despite the fact that he had gone when he was younger and he loved it. "My being away for four months has him already on edge."

Patrick laughed. "Your first year at that privet school of yours must have been hard for him. I can't even imagine what he must have been like."

"You have no idea."

"_Patrick!"_

Both she and Patrick turned when they heard his name screeched by the front door and in unison, they froze. A mousey looking woman with short brown hair curled atop her head and beady eyes on her round face came wondering into Skimmer's Diner like it was her favorite place in the world. And for all she or Patrick knew, it was her favorite place in the world just for one reason: She adored Patrick Petrel.

Patrick's face paled when she wondered over to him. "Mrs. Pettigrew," he said in a forced voice. "So…erm, _nice_ to see you again. Can I get you your usual tea and biscuits?"

"Oh, isn't he cute!" Mrs. Pettigrew nearly squealed and she reached over to pinch Patrick's cheek as four others walked in behind her. "Absolutely adorable! If only I was just a little younger…" One of the four boys that walked in behind Mrs. Pettigrew suddenly turned beat red and instantly hid his face in the shoulder of one his friends who in turn laughed. Seeing as the boy that hid looked just like Mrs. Pettigrew, Lyra assumed it was her son and under closer inspection she found she knew Mrs. Pettigrew's son – and his friends. The color faded from her cheeks.

Peter Pettigrew. She never made the connection between him and Mrs. Pettigrew before and she now felt ashamed that she didn't. And as he and his friends, James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin found their own seats at a booth near the front of the diner, Lyra decided she really did not want the four knowing she worked at a Muggle diner. They might not know who she was as she tended to try and stay in the shadows at school but she didn't want to risk that chance that they might recognize her from class and tell her entire Slytherin House that she worked as a Muggle in a small Muggle town called Skipper'.

"My son and his friends were a tad bit bored at home so I thought I'd show them around the town," Mrs. Pettigrew explained to a distressed looking Patrick as Lyra slowly slinked around the corner toward the kitchens. "But, alas! They do not want to go candle shopping with an old lady such as myself so I thought to bring them here while I finished, thinking the five of you would become fast friends!"

Patrick cast a quick glance at the boys in the booth before the side of his mouth twitch up in an attempt to smile. "You – You're not _old_, Mrs. Pettigrew…"

Lyra mentally smacked her forehead. Patrick never failed to put his foot in it with Mrs. Pettigrew.

Mrs. Pettigrew laughed, her rosy cheeks dimpling. "Always so sweet, aren't you, Patrick! A lady could never get tired of you, I'm sure!"

Peter Pettigrew buried his face in his arms as he slouched over the table. Potter laughed at his antics while Black lounged back in his seat, arms stretched behind his head as he looked around lazily. Lupin appeared to be completely unaware of the happenings around him as he busied himself with the dessert menu. Not a one of them seemed to be aware of Lyra hiding behind the corner.

"Now, I must go and finish my shopping, Patrick," Peter's mother continued as she adjusted her scarf around her neck. "I'll be back to pay for these boys later." She smiled a sweet smile before patting Patrick's face lovingly and turning to leave, waving a goodbye to the boys as she walked away.

For awhile, Patrick simply stood there in the middle of the diner staring at the doors Mrs. Pettigrew just walked out of, possibly making sure she wasn't coming back just yet. Turning slowly on his heal, Patrick found Lyra hiding by the kitchen doors again. He blinked in surprise so see her hiding before glaring at her. "What the hell?" He mouthed at her, his face tomato red, by anger or embarrassment, Lyra wasn't sure. "What are you doing?"

Lyra shrugged once before pointing one thin finger around the corner at the four boys at the booth. Thinking she was telling him to wait on the boys, Patrick rolled his eyes as he shook his head in anger before grabbing the menus and making his way over to the new diner guests.

After finishing his job taking the boy's orders Patrick rounded the corner to the kitchens and found Lyra once again. "What the bloody _hell_, Ludlow!" He hissed.

"I'm sorry!" She apologized quickly. "But I didn't want them to see me!"

Patrick's looked at her curiously, his towering form dwarfing her greatly. "What? You know them?" He asked nodding his head in the direction of the boy's booth.

Lyra nodded. "They go to my school."

"So?"

"So?" Lyra mocked back. "Would you want _your_ old classmates meeting you up here while you're working?"

Patrick shrugged, seeing Lyra's point. "Fine," He said with a calculating expression. "I'll wait them for you, but I can't let you hide in front of the kitchen doors while they stay here. Greg would kill me if he found out I let his employees hide behind walls." He looked around the diner for something she could do. "Why don't you go wash the door windows?"

"What?" Lyra hissed in rejection. "The whole point of you waiting them for me is so that _they don't see me_! How does sending me to wash the windows_ right next to them_ help the situation?"

He shrugged again, seemingly not too concerned. Obviously, he still didn't appreciate her ditching him on the floor with Mrs. Pettigrew. "Wear a hat," he said. "And _warn_ me next time our _lovely_ Mrs. Pettigrew comes in for a visit." Patrick was about to turn to walk into the kitchen to take care of the boy's order but then suddenly paused and turned to Lyra once more. "And when she _does_ come back in… you can take the check."

Lyra huffed in agitation when Patrick walked away, disappearing into the kitchen.

"Jerk."

After finding a hat and piling her blonde hair into it Lyra took a bottle of cleaner and a rag to the front of the diner to wash the windows, casting a few hurried glances at the Gryffindor's in the booth by the doors to see if they were watching her. She was happy to see they weren't very concerned about her, having given her a curious glance once or twice when her moving caught their eyes but overall, they didn't even seem to notice and they continued their conversation like she wasn't just there in hearing range.

She wasn't sitting there in front of the doors long before she heard her classmates start a discussion loud enough for anyone who might just be sitting by the doors to hear.

"I do think we got lucky though," She heard one of them, Potter she recognized, say to the others. He seemed to be trying to finish a conversation they started earlier. "I mean the next one doesn't occur until we're back at Hogwarts, then once we're back on summer break we'll be legal so we'll be able to stay with Moony this time around."

"Legal?" Black laughed as he watched the ceiling. "What we've done is already _illegal_, why worry about when we do it?"

Potter smacked Black in the chest causing his friend to turn in on himself. "Are you dense, Padfoot?" Potter scolded him good naturally while Black rubbed his chest where he was hit. "Have you learned nothing in your five and a half years at Hogwarts? It's all about_ not getting caught_!"

Black snorted as Lupin looked between them. "James is right, Sirius," Lupin said. "You should be more careful or you'll find yourselves in Azkaban…

Lyra wiped at the windows and jumped at the mention of Azkaban. The window squeaked loudly and she blushed, quickly looking to see if the boys noticed. They didn't

Black shrugged and leaned back in his seat again, resting his head on the back of the booth. "Can you imagine any of us in Azkaban?" He asked as he shut his eyes.

"Whether you can imagine it or not, Sirius," Lupin went on. "If you're not careful, you will get caught and no one goes into Azkaban and comes out the same person."

"_If_ you get out." Pettigrew piped up and Black kicked him under the table.

"Oh, shut it Wormtail," He said with a scowl. "No one's going to Azkaban." A moment after saying this Black sighed. "What I wouldn't do for it to be full moon tonight though."

Lyra saw Lupin give Black an annoyed look through the reflection of the window but he didn't say anything.

"Illegal activities aside now," Potter said and Black opened his eyes to look at his friend. "We have a responsibility as friends of Moony's, to make sure he's never alone on those nights to deal with his furry little problem. So that means we've got to be extra careful. No detentions. No _mishaps_." He cast a sidewise glance to Black sitting next to him and Black had a dark look cross his features.

"It was a one time thing, Prongs," he said and his eyes landed on Lupin again. "It shouldn't have happened, Moony and I'm sorry, I—"

"Sirius." Lupin interrupted and Black shut his mouth with a snap, causing Lupin to laugh lightly and shake his head.

"Don't worry, Padfoot." Potter told him. "Just giving you a hard time, mate."

He looked around his friends and seeing as there were no hard feelings about what ever it was they were talking about, Black crossed his arms. "Piss off, Potter," He said and Potter laughed. "It's been over a year since that incident and I've apologized to Remus countless times and I still feel awful…"

"As you should," Potter said to Lyra's surprise. "And we'll remind you of it a million more years to come."

Black glared at Potter who in turn only smiled toothily back.

Lyra then decided to move herself to another window when she saw Patrick coming by with the Gryffindor's plates of food, realizing she had been washing the single door the entire time. Patrick never looked at her as he walked by and Lyra realized that Potter and his friends were probably cutting into Patrick's break time – Or she was, since she was the one meant to wait their table.

She'd just have to find a way to pay Patrick back is all, she thought.

"I just hope that the three of you _don't_ get in trouble for this," Lupin said suddenly as he pushed his chips around his plate and Lyra got the impression that the thought was plaguing him for some unknown reason. "Though, you have no idea how entirely… _grateful_… I am to have you guys as my friends; I'm just hoping that my problem doesn't land any of you in any sort of trouble."

"Don't be daft, Lupin," Black said smirking hotly. "If anything, you'll be the one keeping us in line!"

Potter nodded at Black's words before asking, "How many times are we going to have this conversation, Moony? It's been eight months since we hit the point of no return and you're still questioning it. We're not backing out, no matter the risks."

Lupin almost looked like he was somewhere between being disappointed and thankful and it almost seemed like he couldn't decide on which to feel so he settled on both. Lyra had no idea such an expression could exist but it did on Lupin's face. "I just had to check and make sure, I guess." He said silently.

"Besides," Black began. "It's the risks that make it fun!"

Lupin gave him a look over his chip. "And that's why I ask." He told Potter.

Black grinned cheekily before turning to Pettigrew and his expression morphed to distaste. "Would you slow down, Wormtail?" He asked the smaller boy who had been popping chip after chip into his mouth. "Before you choke."

Grabbing her bottle of cleaner, Lyra stood, thinking if she stayed any longer that the boys would certainly get suspicious of what she was doing and she walked towards the back to find Patrick waiting for her by the kitchen doors. It seemed he had been waiting there patiently for her to return as he leaned casually against the wall. He smirked at her but didn't say anything as he watched her put her rag and cleaner away in the cupboards near the kitchens. Then, after a while he said, "I don't think I've ever seen those doors sparkle as much as they do now. Maybe I should have you wash them more often…"

Lyra rolled her eyes as she took off her hat and let her blonde hair flow over her shoulders once again. "Sod off, Petrel."

He chuckled before pushing himself off the wall to stand upright. "For someone who really didn't want to be seen by her classmates, you really did stick around for quite a long time, you know."

"I was just doing my job," Lyra said jutting her chin out defiantly.

Patrick hummed his agreement before casually looking around the corner to the boys in the booth. "Get any dirt on them?" He asked off handedly and Lyra froze and looked at him questioningly.

"You…?"

"You did then!" He exclaimed with a grin. "I knew you would!"

"You – you planned that?" Lyra asked him and Patrick winked at her. "You did not plan that!" She yelled, smacking him with her hat and he tried cowering away by slinking through the kitchen doors. "You couldn't have planned that! You're _not_ that clever!"

The doors swung shut at her words and she could see Patrick giving her an offended sort of look through the small window in one of the doors. Lyra quickly threw her hat at him where it clunked loudly against the glass.

"He's not that clever…" She said to no body but herself as she watched her muggle friend laugh at her on the other side of the door while at the same time, trying to think of what she could do with what she learned about her lovely classmates and to what extent she could use it too.

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_Author's Note:_

_Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you think!_

_And a special thanks to MsTonksLupin for reviewing the Prologue! It was very lovely!_


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